In "People Get Ready," musicians, scholars, and journalists write about jazz since 1965, the year that Curtis Mayfield composed the famous civil rights anthem that gives this collection its title. The contributors emphasize how the political consciousness that infused jazz in the 1960s and early 1970s has informed jazz in the years since then. They bring nuance to historical accounts of the avant-garde, the New Thing, Free Jazz, "non-idiomatic" improvisation, fusion, and other forms of jazz that have flourished since the 1960s, and they reveal the contemporary relevance of those musical practices. Many of the participants in the jazz scenes discussed are still active performers. A photographic essay captures some of them in candid moments before performances. Other pieces revise standard accounts of well-known jazz figures, such as Duke Ellington, and lesser-known musicians, including Jeanne Lee; delve into how money, class, space, and economics affect the performance of experimental music; and take up the question of how digital technology influences improvisation. "People Get Ready" offers a vision for the future of jazz based on an appreciation of the complexity of its past and the abundance of innovation in the present.
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Contributors." Tamar Barzel, John Brackett, Douglas Ewart, Ajay Heble, Vijay Iyer, Thomas King, Tracy McMullen, Paul D. Miller/DJ Spooky, Nicole Mitchell, Roscoe Mitchell, Famoudou Don Moye, Aldon Lynn Nielsen, Eric Porter, Marc Ribot, Matana Roberts, Jaribu Shahid, Julie Dawn Smith, Wadada Leo Smith, Alan Stanbridge, John Szwed, Greg Tate, Scott Thomson, Rob Wallace, Ellen Waterman, Corey Wilkes

Just after recording with John Coltrane in 1963, baritone singer Johnny Hartman (1923-1983) told a family member that "something special" occurred in the studio that day. He was right - the album, containing definitive readings of "Lush Life" and "My One and Only Love," resides firmly in the realm of iconic; forever enveloping listeners in the sounds of romance. In The Last Balladeer, author Gregg Akkerman skillfully reveals not only the intimate details of that album but the life-long achievements and occasional missteps of Hartman as an African-American artist dedicated to his craft. This book carefully follows the journey of the Grammy-nominated vocalist from his big band origins with Earl Hines and Dizzy Gillespie to featured soloist in prestigious supper clubs throughout the world. Through exclusive interviews with Hartman's family and fellow musicians (including Tony Bennett, Billy Taylor, Kurt Elling, Jon Hendricks, and others), accounts from friends and associates, newly discovered recordings and studio outtakes, and in-depth research on his career and personal life, Akkerman expertly recollects the Hartman character as a gentleman, romantic, family man, and constant contributor to the jazz scene. From his international concerts in Japan, Australia, and England to his steady presence as an American nightclub singer that spanned five decades, Hartman personifies the "last balladeer" of his kind, singing with a sentiment that captured the attention of Clint Eastwood, who brought Hartman's songs to the masses in the film The Bridges of Madison County. In the first full-length biography and discography to chronicle the rhapsodic life and music of Johnny Hartman, the author completes a previously missing dimension of vocal-jazz history by documenting Hartman as the balladeer who crooned his way into so many hearts. Backed by impeccable research but conveyed in a conversational style, this book will interest not only musicians and scholars but any fan of the Great American Songbook and the singers who brought it to life.

There has always been more to music in Boston than the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Jazz, for example, dates to the early 1900s, but it was in the 1940s and 1950s that it truly sparkled. The Boston Jazz Chronicles: Faces, Places, and Nightlife 1937-1962 is the first book to document that city's active jazz scene at mid-century.

Boston jazz came into its own during the World War II years, when the big bands supplied America with its popular music, and Boston's Charlie and Cy Shribman were among the kingmakers of the big-band era. The city produced such talents as pianist and bandleader Sabby Lewis, the multi-instrumentalist Ray Perry, and bassist Lloyd Trotman. The scene benefited from the extended wartime presence of established stars, including trumpeter Frankie Newton and trombonist Vic Dickenson, and from the start of a Sunday afternoon jam session tradition that brought the nation's best jazzmen into regular contact with local players. There were opportunities for musicians, particularly young musicians, to gain valuable experience by filling in for the older men serving in the military.

The end of the war introduced new jazz sounds to Boston, and reintroduced a few older ones as well. Alongside those musicians like Lewis still playing swing, there were others looking to the past for inspiration, sparking a Dixieland revival, and still others looking forward, spreading the new sound of bebop. There were big-band survivors in downsized groups playing jump blues, and others organizing new big bands along modern lines.

The end of the war also brought a surge of talented musicians, many of them veterans and beneficiaries of the GI Bill. They were attracted by the city's music conservatories and the new Schillinger House, soon to be renamed the Berklee School of Music. Boston became a destination for musicians seeking new musical direction. Here they joined with Boston's own contingent of formidable musicians to form a new, more modern scene, led by such luminaries as Jaki Byard, Joe Gordon, Nat Pierce, Charlie Mariano, Herb Pomeroy, Sam Rivers, Alan Dawson, and Dick Twardzik. They would carry Boston jazz to a creative peak in the mid-to-late 1950s that still remains unequaled.

The music was splendid, but there was more. Boston was home to influential jazz journalists George Frazier and Nat Hentoff; Berklee College of Music founder Lawrence Berk; Father Norman O'Connor, the Jazz Priest; record company executive and producer Tom Wilson; and Storyville nightclub proprietor George Wein, organizer of the Newport Jazz Festival. And through it all was the music, at the Ken Club, the Savoy Cafe, the Hi-Hat, the Stable, and other rooms both rowdy and refined.

The Boston Jazz Chronicles relates this story in reportage and personal anecdotes, and through dozens of photographs, advertisements, and period maps. This complete study also includes extensive notes, a bibliography, discography, and comprehensive index.

Author Richard Vacca is a Boston-based technical writer and editor with a lifelong interest in cultural history, and a regular presenter on the topic of Boston jazz and nightlife. He spent seven years researching and assembling these chronicles.

The Jazz Life of Dr. Billy Taylor: America's Classical Musician is the autobiography of the legendary jazz ambassador whose work spans more than six decades, from the heyday of 52nd Street in 1940s New York City to CBS Sunday Morning. Beginning with his childhood in segregation-era Washington D.C., Billy Taylor recounts how he came of age as a jazz musician in smoke-filled clubs pulsating with the rhythms of bebop, and later climbed to world acclaim as an internationally recognized music educator and popular media figure. Through his life's work, Taylor fought not only for the recognition of jazz music as "America's classical music" but also for the recognition of black musicians as key contributors to the American music repertoire. Peppered with anecdotes detailing encounters with other jazz legends such as Fats Waller, Jelly Roll Morton, Duke Ellington, Art Tatum, Ben Webster, Count Basie, Billie Holiday, Dinah Washington, and many others, this autobiography is not only the life story of a jazz musician and spokesman, but is also the history of a nation grappling with racism and modernity.

In "People Get Ready," musicians, scholars, and journalists write about jazz since 1965, the year that Curtis Mayfield composed the famous civil rights anthem that gives this collection its title. The contributors emphasize how the political consciousness that infused jazz in the 1960s and early 1970s has informed jazz in the years since then. They bring nuance to historical accounts of the avant-garde, the New Thing, Free Jazz, "non-idiomatic" improvisation, fusion, and other forms of jazz that have flourished since the 1960s, and they reveal the contemporary relevance of those musical practices. Many of the participants in the jazz scenes discussed are still active performers. A photographic essay captures some of them in candid moments before performances. Other pieces revise standard accounts of well-known jazz figures, such as Duke Ellington, and lesser-known musicians, including Jeanne Lee; delve into how money, class, space, and economics affect the performance of experimental music; and take up the question of how digital technology influences improvisation. "People Get Ready" offers a vision for the future of jazz based on an appreciation of the complexity of its past and the abundance of innovation in the present.
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Contributors." Tamar Barzel, John Brackett, Douglas Ewart, Ajay Heble, Vijay Iyer, Thomas King, Tracy McMullen, Paul D. Miller/DJ Spooky, Nicole Mitchell, Roscoe Mitchell, Famoudou Don Moye, Aldon Lynn Nielsen, Eric Porter, Marc Ribot, Matana Roberts, Jaribu Shahid, Julie Dawn Smith, Wadada Leo Smith, Alan Stanbridge, John Szwed, Greg Tate, Scott Thomson, Rob Wallace, Ellen Waterman, Corey Wilkes

Five superb albums of graded pieces provide a wealth of jazz repertoire. Throughout, there is a huge range of styles, from bebop blues to calypsos, boogie-woogie to ballads, jazz waltzes to free jazz. There are classic tunes by the jazz greats, including Duke Ellington, Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk. And there are brand-new pieces specially commissioned from professional British jazz musicians and educators. Each album presents 15 pieces in three lists: blues, standards and contemporary jazz. The head of each piece is set out with all the characteristic voicings, phrasing and rhythmic patterns you need for a stylish performance. The improvised section gives guideline pitches and left-hand voicings as a practical starting-point. Accessible, student-centred and of the highest musical standards, these pieces will get you playing jazz confidently and creatively.

Carter and Ralph Stanley--the Stanley Brothers--are comparable to Bill Monroe and Flatt & Scruggs as important members of the earliest generation of bluegrass musicians. In this first biography of the brothers, author David W. Johnson documents that Carter (1925-1966) and Ralph (b. 1927) were equally important contributors to the tradition of old-time country music. Together from 1946 to 1966, the Stanley Brothers began their careers performing in the schoolhouses of southwestern Virginia and expanded their popularity to the concert halls of Europe.

In order to re-create this post-World War II journey through the changing landscape of American music, the author interviewed Ralph Stanley, the family of Carter Stanley, former members of the Clinch Mountain Boys, and dozens of musicians and friends who knew the Stanley Brothers as musicians and men. The late Mike Seeger allowed Johnson to use his invaluable 1966 interviews with the brothers. Notable old-time country and bluegrass musicians such as George Shuffler, Lester Woodie, Larry Sparks, and the late Wade Mainer shared their recollections of Carter and Ralph.

"Lonesome Melodies" begins and ends in the mountains of southwestern Virginia. Carter and Ralph were born there and had an early publicity photograph taken at the Cumberland Gap. In December 1966, pallbearers walked up Smith Ridge to bring Carter to his final resting place. In the intervening years, the brothers performed thousands of in-person and radio shows, recorded hundreds of songs and tunes for half a dozen record labels, and tried to keep pace with changing times while remaining true to the spirit of old-time country music. As a result of their accomplishments, they have become a standard of musical authenticity.

Structured to accommodate the three most-prevalent avenues of learning: A) In the classroom: as a text book resource for a three-year course of study when used with the included student practice assignments. Year 1 - Embracing all the essential materials leading up to the construction, and use of four-part chords with accompanying exercises. Year 2 - Coverage of core subjects, plus the construction and use of chords up to and including seven-part chords, with accompanying examples and exercises. Year 3 - The study of melodic inharmonics, substitute and chromatic chords, with guidance on how to recognize and use them. A further section focuses on harmonic and melodic analysis of tunes, with exercises and examples. B) Private instruction: the "one-on-one" teacher-pupil relationship which forms the second avenue of learning. Private teachers with aspiring jazz students will find this text provides key information in an easily understood and logical progression which eliminates the "skip and jump" method of teaching. The teacher will easily be able to guide the student, providing practice work and tunes that demonstrate the course of study. C) Self-education: at last a text book, that is useful as a course of self-study in jazz. The book will develop, in the student, an orderly step-by-step understanding of the theory of jazz and jazz improvisation. Student exercises included with this book are written for all instruments ("C," "Bb," and "Eb") to provide meaningful examples and practice assignments for each topic covered in The Art of Jazz Improvisation For All Instruments. About the Author Lloyd Abrams began playing professionally while in High School. To pursue additional theoretical and technical knowledge, he later moved to Toronto where he spent three years at the Toronto Conservatory of Music in the study of Jazz Theory, Composition and Orchestration with the eminent Gordon Delamont, and classical piano with John Covert. Working gigs with various groups in the region helped pay the bills. To further his professional knowledge and experience, Lloyd moved to Hollywood California in 1959, where he continued his Theory and Piano studies with Dick Grove. After three years he returned home to continue playing and to pursue a teaching career. In 1964 he was invited to form an all-star band comprised of music students from local high schools. In successive years the band was invited to stage performances at school concerts and teacher conventions. The band project has been recognized as instrumental in exposing educators to the Jazz idiom, and introducing the study of jazz into regional school musical programs. Retired from professional performance since the mid 1980's Lloyd has turned his full attention to education of the individual performer. His pupils and graduate pupils are performing professionally as studio musicians, entertainers, and as educators, working in North America, Europe and Asia. Publisher's Website: http://SBPRA.com/LloydAbrams

Koop Kooper, the Cocktail universe's high priest of all things hep, swinging, and swank, and cyber disc-jockey of his radio show, "The Cocktail Nation," has unleashed the definitive guide to the Lounge universe. Replete with gassin interviews and cool pixeramas, he reveals the incredible diorama of Cocktail culture, lifestyle, and music. Koop mixes it up with cool luminaries and pioneers of the Cocktail soundtrack, such as hepster Jack Constanzo, the bongo player of the 1950s, shakes a martini with the leaders of the revival Combustible Edison, trades smart lip with comedian satirist Shelley Berman and 21st century hit-makers Martini Kings, heads down the dark streets of Cocktail noir, muscling it up with croonoir Jimmy Vargas, then it's off to the Vegas pool, where he conducts an underwater interview with gorgeous fire-eating mermaid Marina. Koop Kooper's Cocktail Nation book is a glorious panorama of all things Lounge, created by the swank meister of uber cool himself.

In this remarkable book, Steven Feld, pioneer of the anthropology of sound, listens to the vernacular cosmopolitanism of jazz players in Ghana. Some have traveled widely, played with American jazz greats, and blended the innovations of John Coltrane with local instruments and worldviews. Combining memoir, biography, ethnography, and history, Feld conveys a diasporic intimacy and dialogue that contests American nationalist and Afrocentric narratives of jazz history. His stories of Accra's jazz cosmopolitanism feature Ghanaba/Guy Warren (1923-2008), the eccentric drummer who befriended the likes of Charlie Parker, Max Roach, and Thelonious Monk in the United States in the 1950s, only to return, embittered, to Ghana, where he became the country's leading experimentalist. Others whose stories figure prominently are Nii Noi Nortey, who fuses the legacies of the black avant-gardes of the 1960s and 1970s with pan-African philosophy in sculptural shrines to Coltrane and musical improvisations inspired by his work; the percussionist Nii Otoo Annan, a traditional master inspired by Coltrane's drummers Elvin Jones and Rashied Ali; and a union of Accra truck and minibus drivers whose squeeze-bulb honk-horn music for drivers' funerals recalls the jazz funerals of New Orleans. Feld describes these artists' cosmopolitan outlook as an "acoustemology," a way of knowing the world through sound.

After around 35 years touring the world professionally in the many areas of music as both a sideman, and a leader, I am very proud to finally publish some of my original compositions. It has been many years that people ask me about my different originals, as well as enquire about the availability of the lead sheets. Finally I have assembled them into a book format. The book begins chronologically from 2003- 2011. My last 6 CD's starting with the Motive Series, One Step Closer, Family First, Live At The Bird's Eye, Good Rhythms Good Vibes, and Live at Chorus jazz Club. You will surely notice how my harmonic language skills grow and change over the years. Feel free to explore the different ways they can be performed. Many of the tunes can be played in multiple styles, and you can just use the harmonic/rhythmic roadmap and melody your way.

A method of learning jazz chords for mandolin players. Starts with swing and goes through modern jazz, showing chords and voicings that work with all.

TONY BENNETT: Harold Jones is one of the finest men I know. I have reviewed "The Singer's Drummer" and it is a Knock-Out I am happy that someone is putting together a history of what really happens on the road. This is a very creative work. Best of luck with the book COUNT BASIE: A great drummer can mean everything to a band. Harold Jones has really pulled us together. LOUIS BELLSON: Harold Jones was Count Basie's favorite drummer. BILL COSBY: Harold is a master of mind, hands, feet and touch. His playing is very delicate, like handling the very finest crystal and china and when he is done, there's no damage. NATALIE COLE: Harold is one of the best jazz drummers in the world. NANCY WILSON: When I speak of my "Gentlemen" I am referring to a select group of super-talented musicians with whom I have had the good fortune to work. Harold was a treasured member of my trio in the mid-70's, a class act both as a musician and a man. I commend him as one of my gentlemen. JON HENDRICKS: Harold always pulled the band back of us singers. Harold always swings and he is a beautiful, sensitive cat. GEORGE YOUNG: Playing with Harold is like taking a warm bath. All you have to do is lay back and enjoy the swinging feel of his playing. JOHN BADESSA: Harold won the Downbeat International Award as the "Best New Artist and Big Band Drummer" in 1972. He has not relinquished his title. He is still the best big band drummer in the world.

Cross-Rhythms investigates the literary uses and effects of blues and jazz in African-American literature of the twentieth century. Texts by James Baldwin, Ralph Ellison, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Gayl Jones, Toni Morrison and Ishmael Reed variously adopt or are consciously informed by a jazz aesthetic; this aesthetic becomes part of a strategy of ethnic identification and provides a medium with which to consider the legacy of trauma in African-American history. These diverse writers are all thoroughly immersed in a socio-cultural context and a literary aesthetic that embodies shifting conceptions of ethnic identity across the twentieth century. The emergence of blues and jazz is, likewise, a crucial product of, as well as catalyst for, this context, and in their own aesthetic explorations of notions of ethnicity these writers consciously engage with this musical milieu. By examining the highly varied manifestations of a jazz aesthetic as possibly the fundamental common denominator which links these writers, this study attempts to identify an underlying unifying principle. As the different writers write against essentializing or organic categories of race, the very fact of a shared engagement with jazz sensibilities in their work redefines the basis of African-American communal identity.

A Living Jazz Legend, musician and composer David Baker has made a distinctive mark on the world of music in his nearly 60-year career as player (chiefly on trombone and cello), composer, and educator. In this richly illustrated volume, Monika Herzig explores Baker s artistic legacy, from his days as a jazz musician in Indianapolis to his long-term gig as Distinguished Professor and Chairman of the Jazz Studies department at Indiana University. Baker s credits are striking: in the 1960s he was a member of George Russell s "out there" sextet and orchestra; by the 1980s he was in the jazz educator s hall of fame. His compositions have been recorded by performers as diverse as Dexter Gordon and Janos Starker, the Beaux Arts Trio, the Composer s String Quartet and the Czech Philharmonic. Featuring enlightening interviews with Baker and a CD of unreleased recordings and Baker compositions, this book brings a jazz legend into clear view."

"Sonic Resource Guide" is a reference book for the application of set theory principles to jazz improvisation. It is meant for the musician who wants to explore new sounds for improvisation or composition.The aim of "Sonic Resource Guide" is to bridge the gap between highly mathematical pitch class theory books and the often limited scope of jazz improvisation methods by demonstrating various musical relationships that an improviser can use to create fresh sounding musical content.The book reduces note relationships down to two hundred and twenty prime forms. Endless combinations of notes can be derived from these prime forms which are commonly referred to as pitch class sets.The various melodic and harmonic relationships of these pitch class sets are listed to help a musician locate and utilize these relationships within their own playing. Along with each pitch class set is a listing of possible related jazz chords.Where appropriate a listing of all three and four note chords can be found to aid in creating varied and unique harmonic pallettes, as well as three, four, six and eight note subset relationships to help in exploring subset based musical ideas.Jazz musicians will find this book user friendly because all relationships are listed as both pitch names and scale degrees. Set theory students will find each pitch class set is also expressed in its prime form.An index containing a simplified set list is also included to help in locating a prime form's scales from any note combination. There is also a brief theory section exploring some of the uses of the information presented. Further books will explore these theoretical relationships in depth.

Fred Astaire: one of the great jazz artists of the twentieth century. Astaire is best known for his brilliant dancing in the movie musicals of the 1930s, but in "Music Makes Me", Todd Decker argues that Astaire's work as a dancer and choreographer - particularly in the realm of tap dancing - made a significant contribution to the art of jazz. Decker examines the full range of Astaire's work in filmed and recorded media, from a 1926 recording with George Gershwin to his 1970 blues stylings on television, and analyzes Astaire's creative relationships with the greats, including George and Ira Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, and Johnny Mercer. He also highlights Astaire's collaborations with African American musicians and his work with lesser known professionals - arrangers, musicians, dance directors, and performers.

Standard Lines Book III in the Constructing Walking Jazz Bass Lines series for the Electric Bassist is a comprehensive guide demonstrating the devices used to construct walking jazz bass lines in the jazz standard tradition. Book III covers 24 standard jazz chord progressions with 110 choruses of professional jazz bass lines as an example. Part I outlines the Modes and the chord scale relationships and the fundamental knowledge required to be able to build the diatonic triads and 7th chords in any key. Examples are given in the " 2 " feel and " 4 " feel walking bass style enabling the bassist to develop a strong rhythmic and harmonic foundation. More advanced bass line construction examples including voice leading and mode substitutions and mode applications related to specific jazz chord progressions are also outlined. Part II outlines the Symmetric Scales as well as the Modes of the Melodic Minor Scale related to the Minor II V I progression. Provided are written examples of the Symmetric Scales and the chord scale relationships and how to apply the use of the Symmetric Scales over popular jazz chord progressions. The Minor II V I is outlined and compared to the Major II V I outlining the differences with the suggested scale uses applied to common jazz chord progressions. Part III outlines the use of the BeBop Scales and their use in the jazz walking bass tradition, providing suggested uses of the Be Bop scales related to popular jazz chord progressions. Part IV outlines the previous lesson devices and concepts with examples of professional level bass lines over standard jazz chord progressions. All information builds in a stepwise progression enabling the bassist to apply the techniques in all 12 keys.

"Birds of Fire" brings overdue critical attention to fusion, a musical idiom that emerged as young musicians blended elements of jazz, rock, and funk in the late 1960s and 1970s. At the time, fusion was disparaged by jazz writers and ignored by rock critics. In the years since, it has come to be seen as a commercially driven jazz substyle. Fusion never did coalesce into a genre. In "Birds of Fire," Kevin Fellezs contends that hybridity was its reason for being. By mixing different musical and cultural traditions, fusion artists sought to disrupt generic boundaries, cultural hierarchies, and critical assumptions. Interpreting the work of four distinctive fusion artists--Tony Williams, John McLaughlin, Joni Mitchell, and Herbie Hancock--Fellezs highlights the ways that they challenged convention in the 1960s and 1970s. He also considers the extent to which a musician can be taken seriously as an artist across divergent musical traditions. "Birds of Fire" concludes with a look at the current activities of McLaughlin, Mitchell, and Hancock; Williams's final recordings; and the legacy of the fusion music made by these four pioneering artists.

Standard Lines, Book III in the Constructing Walking Jazz Bass Lines series for the Double Bassist and Electric Bassist is a comprehensive guide demonstrating the devices used to construct walking jazz bass lines in the jazz standard tradition. Book III covers 24 standard jazz chord progressions with 110 choruses of professional jazz bass lines as an example. Part I outlines the Modes and the chord scale relationships and the fundamental knowledge required to be able to build the diatonic triads and 7th chords in any key. Examples are given in the " 2 " feel and " 4 " feel walking bass style enabling the bassist to develop a strong rhythmic and harmonic foundation. More advanced bass line construction examples including voice leading and mode substitutions and mode applications related to specific jazz chord progressions are also outlined. Part II outlines the Symmetric Scales as well as the Modes of the Melodic Minor Scale related to the Minor II V I progression. Provided are written examples of the Symmetric Scales and the chord scale relationships and how to apply the use of the Symmetric Scales over popular jazz chord progressions. The Minor II V I is outlined and compared to the Major II V I outlining the differences with the suggested scale uses applied to common jazz chord progressions. Part III outlines the use of the BeBop Scales and their use in the jazz walking bass tradition, providing suggested uses of the Be Bop scales related to popular jazz chord progressions. Part IV outlines the previous lesson devices and concepts with examples of professional level bass lines over standard jazz chord progressions. All information builds in a stepwise progression enabling the bassist to apply the techniques in all 12 keys.

The first complete biography of singing legend Tony Bennett

Among America's greatest entertainers such as Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, Ray Charles, and Sammy Davis Jr., Tony Bennett alone is still here and at the top of his game. For the first time, All the Things You Are tells the incredible story of Bennett's life and sixty-year career, from his impoverished New York City childhood through his first chart-topping hits, from liberating a concentration camp to his civil rights struggles, from his devastating personal and career battles and addiction in the 1970's to his stunning comeback and emergence as a musical statesman, America's troubadour, role model and mentor, and unmatched interpreter of the American songbook.Takes a candid, unvarnished look at the amazing life of one of America's most enduring musical icons Based on dozens of author interviews with Bennett's family members, ?agents, musicians, composers and managers, and experts on the last fifty years of popular musicFilled with stories involving leading figures and entertainers of the twentieth-century, including Cary Grant, Frank Sinatra, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Fiorello LaGuardia, Martin Luther King, Jr., Ray Charles, Dean Martin, Billie Holliday, and more

Whether you've been a Tony Bennett fan for decades or are just discovering him, this book will deepen your understanding of this hugely gifted entertainer and his music.